Author Archives: andrewkilham

dell inspiron 530s loud fan

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer asked me to install a new PC (Dell inspiron 530s), and to transfer files from her old PC.

It seems like a reasonable system (3GB ram, vista home premium, core 2 duo, etc)

Once I connect everything, I fire it up, and I notice the CPU (or PSU) fan are very noisy (running at full speed). I would expect the fan to go quiet after a few seconds.

Anyway, I decide to worry about it last, as I have a lot of configuration to do (remove norton, and some other junk, and then install/configure antivir, defender, spyware blaster, winpatrol, bhodemon, office, etc).

I also don’t have a crosover ethernet cable with me… So I’m reduced to copying about 15Gb of music files using my 1GB usb drive… painfully time consuming!

I then run out of time, so I ask Andrew to track down the solution to the noisy fan.

I suspect its a bios problem, or a faulty motherboard/fan

Andrew downloads and installs an updated bios ( http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19675114-Dell-530s-very-noisy )

And now, the PC is very quiet.

I wonder why Dell would ship PCs with a such an obvious software fault?

Many users would struggle to fix this type of problem.

slow norton parental control

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer calls about a few problems (no sound, Norton parental control slows down PC startup, and Norton parental control seems to block emails until PC is restarted).

The sound problem was easy: download the latest driver.

From past experience, I know that NPC is very slow to start. So I decided to do this last, as there isn’t much I can do, and some PC tuning might help.

I decided to test the “email blocking” but couldn’t reproduce the problem… except that email won’t work properly until NPC has finished starting… so an impatient user will not get emails as soon as they expect.

So, all that left is my usual tuning, and afterwards, the customer says she can see a difference in speed.

So I finish off with a disk defragment (I tell the customer to let it complete before using the computer).

After starting the defrag, I’m on my way again.

strange computer lockups and reboots (memory problem)

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer has a computer that will frequently restart for no reason.

At first thought, it sounds like a typical power supply problem.

But the problem happens after I install a new power supply.

OK, lets try pulling out the modem card, unplugging the HDD, and booting from the CD: problem happens less often… but it keeps happening…

So I unplug the CD drive (and reconnect the HDD), and after a few minutes, the PC freezes… hmmm, so far, its been sudden restarts, but no lockups.

I reboot again, and everything seems normal… but the problem seems be happening even less often now…

I try removing the RAM, and then installing it into a different socket: now the PC makes a loud beeeep.

Ah! this is familiar: faulty RAM, or faulty RAM socket, or just some “dust” preventing a good electrical contact.

I re-seat the RAM, and the PC starts.

Good, I insert my Mepis live CD, and run memtest.

In the past, memtest has found memory faults within 5 minutes (even though it doesn’t complete all its tests).

This time, memtest says everything is fine.

I’m starting to run out of options here.

I’m starting to think CPU or motherboard.

So I pull out the CPU, clean off the thick, hardened layer of thermal paste, and apply a new thin layer.

But that doesn’t help either 🙁

So I take the computer away for more thorough testing.

I give it to Andrew (and tell him I suspect a MOBO fault), and he swaps CPU and RAM, and eventually diagnoses a RAM fault (after a few hours of running memtest!).

Its the first time I’ve seen a RAM fault that has been particularly difficult to pinpoint.